Prepare Today Homemade- Easiest Muffins EVER!

Self-Reliant Saturday Recipe

 We are a family that loves a good muffin.  We eat them for dinner about 3 times per week.  Muffins are pretty simple to make, but sometimes getting all the ingredients out on a busy night is just too much for me.  I do try to bake a double batch to freeze but I don't always remember to do that.  I think I have found my secret weapon to make muffins quick and SO easy!!  I thought cake mix cookies were easy to make, this recipe is even easier!

You may have heard of the 2 ingredient pumpkin cookies, which include a box of spice cake mix and a small can of pumpkin.  You mix and bake, so easy!  Well, I thought why couldn't that dough also be made into pumpkin muffins??  And guess what?  It worked and the whole family loved them!

  In the fall the grocery stores will generally have spice cake mix for a great price.  Last year I stocked up on them because we really like pumpkin cookies made out of it.  Having all the ingredients on hand added to the simplicity of this recipe. In the picture I used only half of that can of pumpkin because it is the bigger can.  The recipe only calls for a 15oz can of pumpkin. 

 Mix the cake mix, pumpkin, and a few chocolate chips and you have muffin batter!!!  And with no oil or eggs, these muffins are a low-fat option for dinner.  They do have sugar from the cake mix, but not nearly as much as when I make muffins from scratch.

Pumpkin Cake Mix Muffins {or Cookies}
1 box spice cake mix
1 15oz can pumpkin
1 C chocolate chips

Mix the cake mix and pumpkin together with a hand mixer, add the chocolate chips and divide into 12 muffin cups.  (I had extra batter and I made about 8 mini muffins too)  **Bake at 375° for 18-20 minutes.   They could also be baked in a sun oven or volcano stove in a situation without electricity.
**I live at an altitude that I need to follow the high altitude directions and my cake mix said to bake the cake mix at 375°.  If you are below 5000ft you might need to adjust the temperature to 350°.

To make cookies:  Mix as directed above and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a cooling rack.

And if you need a dessert idea, we made these tonight and they were so good and again....only 2 ingredients!!!  Click here for Pumpkin Brownies!!

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!  We are getting ready for the big day today by making all of our pies.  And wouldn't you know it, we are out of pumpkin pie spice.  It's a good thing I have been hanging onto a homemade recipe in my food storage recipe binder.  We made a little batch of homemade pumpkin pie spice in just a few minutes.  

 Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 C cinnamon
1 T allspice**
1 1/2 t ginger
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cloves
Mix all until blended and store in an airtight container.  

  The recipe makes enough to fill this 1.2oz container plus about 1 teaspoon.  Use it in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe or wherever pumpkin pie spice is called for.  

We made 2 pumpkin pies (my 11 year actually made most of it!) and we can't wait until tomorrow to dig in!!

Bonus:
Apple Pie Spice
1/4 C cinnamon
2 t nutmeg
1 t allspice**
1 t ginger
Mix all until blended.  Store in an airtight container.

**1 teaspoon Allspice= 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger 1/4 t cloves     

Prepare Today Homemade - Pumpkin Crunch Cake

This is my family's new favorite dessert.  We love pumpkin and we eat it all year round at our house. I buy enough cans during the Thanksgiving sales to get us through the whole year.  

Are you all on Pinterest?  If not, you should be :)  It is an addicting photo website. You can view pictures of recipes, home decor, quotes, and everything else you can imagine.  This recipe is one that I pinned on Pinterest and actually made.  A lot of what gets pinned on Pinterest is just ideas and wishes ;)

This recipe uses almost all food storage/pantry items. The only ingredient not shelf stable is the butter, and I thought afterwards that I could have used powdered butter since the recipe calls for melted butter.  I will try that out and update if it works.

After mixing the wet ingredients sprinkle a boxed cake mix over the top.  My girls love to help in the kitchen and this was a perfect job for them.

This is the cake mix all pressed down and ready for the melted butter....

The original recipe called for 2 sticks of melted butter!!!  Paula Deen, eat your heart out! But I couldn't do it!  That seemed like way too much melted, artery clogging stuff....so I just did 1 stick of butter.  And it worked!

Pumpkin Crunch Cake 
1 15oz can pumpkin
1 12oz can evaporated milk
4 eggs (1/4 C powdered eggs + 1/2 C water)
1 1/2 C sugar
2 t pumpkin pie spice
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix all ingredients above until combined and pour into a greased 13x9 baking pan. 

Sprinkle 1 box of yellow cake mix over the pumpkin mixture and gently press down.

Drizzle with 1 stick of melted butter.

Bake for 60-80 minutes or until set.  (It works really well in the sun oven)
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If you look in the picture of ingredients at the top of the post you will see a box of whipping cream.  Have you all heard of shelf stable whipping cream before?  It is made by Gossners and I bought it at Honeyville, of course.  Once chilled it will whip into amazingly delicious whipped cream.  I made it for the dessert but forgot it for the finished product picture.  You can also use it in soups or anything else that calls for cream.  I keep several boxes in my fridge and also a few more in the storage room.  The cream can also be used to make butter.  Click HERE to view a post on making butter with your stand mixer.  And you could make butter in an emergency too.  Especially if you have one of those manual hand mixers.  The cream will last on your shelf for at least a year, if not longer.  I found that if it does stay on the shelf longer you will have a box of cream cheese.  Hehe...just one of those learning moments.  It tasted good on a bagel :)

Prepare Today Homemade: Pumpkin Pudding

DECEMBER SELF-RELIANT GOALS:
Short Term and Long Term Goals: December is a great month for baking supplies to be at their lowest prices. This is a great time to stock up on flour, brown or powdered sugar and notice that spices are 40% off at Smiths. Our self-reliant goal this month is all about baking supplies. Take stock of what you have and of all the spices that you use. Do you have enough for at least 3 months? or how about a years worth?
 
Water goals:  Keep some in your car kits and make sure everyone has some in their 72-hour kits.

72-Hour Kit Goals: Hotties heat packs (the small pouches that heat up when you crush them) Also check everyone's sleeping bags for wear and tear or wash and store for the winter.



I made a great recipe this week and it uses food storage items, try it out. And for all those that have evaporated milk and don't know what to do with them, this one's for you :)

Pumpkin Pudding (really like pumpkin pie without the crust)
1/2 C sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t each ground ginger & ground cloves
2 large eggs (I bake with powdered eggs)
one 15 oz. can pumpkin
one 12-oz can evaporated nonfat milk

Mix sugar, spices, salt in small bowl. Beat the eggs in a large bowl (if you use powdered eggs just mix in with other ingredients, it saves a step) Stir in the pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually add the evaporated milk. Pour in 13X9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. It should still be wiggly in the middle. Cool and enjoy warm or cold.
Refrigerate leftovers if you have any :) I make graham crackers to eat with it. My kids love this stuff!

Pumpkin Shortage

One of my favorite vegetabl-es (or is it a fruit?) is rumored to have a shortage this fall. 

This article was in the LA Times:

By Jerry Hirsch October 10, 2009

"Pumpkin pie lovers be warned: You may not find your favorite can of pie filling at the supermarket. There's a national shortage of canned pumpkin and pie filling, a result of poor weather that reduced last year's crop. Shoppers report finding bare shelves, and the supermarkets say they have been put on an "allocation," or quota, system by Libby's, a division of food giant Nestle that controls more than 80% of the canned pumpkin market. Libby's typically uses surpluses from the previous year to stock store shelves during September and October, when the annual pumpkin harvest gets underway. Wet conditions during last year's growing season left canners without a surplus this year, said Roz O'Hearn, a Libby's spokeswoman. But this year's crop is on its way. "We began shipping Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin [filling] in late September, so it should be on grocer's shelves soon," she said.

Shoppers could find the filling a bit more expensive this year. Libby's has a suggested retail price of $1.59 for its 15-ounce can and a suggested price of $2.59 for its 29-ounce cans of pure pumpkin and pumpkin pie mix. O'Hearn said the prices represented a "small increase" over last year because of higher expenses for the steel that goes into the cans and higher grower costs. She did not provide a percentage increase."

• So it looks like we may pay a little more for our canned pumpkin this year and one way to save some money is to puree your own pumpkin. If you still have some cooking pumpkins left over from Halloween now is the time to actually cook them. It is really quite simple. Pumpkin can be boiled, or baked and both ways you'll need to start by scooping out all the stringy stuff and then cutting the pumpkin into pieces.

• Simmer Method: cut pumpkin into 3-4 inch pieces and remove skin with knife and boil 35-40 minutes.

• Baking Method: cut pumpkin in half and then into quarters if too big. Place flesh side down in about 1" of water and cover with foil. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until tender.

• After your pumpkin is cooked it needs to be mashed. A potato masher, blender or food processor will work, you pick your favorite. Now your pumpkin is ready to freeze. About 7 C of pumpkin puree will make about 2 pies so freeze according to your recipe. Remember that your homemade version will have a lot more water in it and you'll probably be able to omit the water or liquid in your pumpkin recipes. You could also strain your pumpkins before you freeze it. Cheesecloth would work in a strainer over a bowl in the fridge over night.

• I love pumpkin bread, muffins and pancakes. I love to sneak healthy food in yummy treats. Pumpkin muffins are part of my 3 month supply menu and I need about 4of the bigger cans of pumpkin puree to last my family 3 months. Don't worry if you use pumpkin and don't have any to cook because I am going to find the lowest price on canned pumpkin and we will all get our pumpkin stored.

Pumpkin Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

from: The Essential Food Storage Cookbook

By: Tami Girsberger and Carol Peterson (great Christmas present)

3 C flour (2 c wheat & 1 C white)

2 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t cloves

1 C butter (2 sticks)

2 C sugar

4 eggs (I use powdered eggs)

1 150z can pumpkin

12 oz chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and ginger together. Cream the butter and sugar and then add the eggs and pumpkin; add to dry ingredients. (fold in chocolate chips if you like) Pour into 2 muffin tins. (this recipe makes 24 muffins) Bake for 22-25 minutes. I freeze 12 of them for a dinner later in the month and they freeze wonderfully.

This example of a pumpkin shortage just reinforces my belief in food storage. We are not just storing for a disaster. We are storing food for many reasons and food shortages are one of them. I encourage all of you to look at what food storage you do have and to find the parts that you may be lacking. Keep a list of items that you need and watch the grocery lists that I post on Wednesday's to be able to stock up on your items affordably. I know we can all do this and feel the peace of having food storage.